Me: So, hey, it's me again! I'm back with another longshot. And, I apologize for the awful summary, I just can't really think of anything.

Misty: Oh joy.

Me: *ignores* Anyways, this is for crixxy200016's contest. Special shout-out to her, since she's motivated me a lot! This whole story will be in Dawn's POV.

Normal, Dream, Class/Period

Homeroom, 1st Period

I pushed open the heavy doors of Pallet Town High School and stepped confidently inside. My footsteps echoed down the long tile hallway. Paper airplanes sailed out of open classrooms. Teachers were running around with stacks of paper and mugs of coffee. Teenagers slammed locker doors and chatted loudly.

"Well, are you ready? This is the most important day of our lives yet," May remarked next to me. She fidgeted with her brown doggy-pigtails. "I don't know if I'm ready."

"Relax, May. You just overstress too much. Nothing's gonna happen," replied Leaf on my other side. Her school girl pigtails swayed as she shifted her position.

"Mist? What do you think?" I asked, turning around to meet the red-head behind me.

A faint whine escaped from Misty's headphones. Her head was bobbing to the music, and she hadn't even heard me.

I sighed and yanked the IPod away. The earphones fell out, and she glared at me.

"Look, I don't care. School is school is school. Now, give it back!"

I smirked, shaking my head. "Nope. I'll keep it for the day. You wouldn't want it getting confiscated by-"

As if on cue, the entire hallway went quiet. An extremely thin teacher walked down the hallway, and when I say thin, I mean thin. Her clothes must have been a size double 0, at least. She was tall too-my small frame must have made me look like a tiny Joltik to her.

Ms. Taylor, the harshest, strictest Science teacher in the entire school. Even the teachers were a little disgruntled by her.

Of course, I had only heard rumors-from about every college student in town. They all agreed-while she may favor some students, to the majority crowd-

They were toast.

When she walked into a room, the tension in the corridor slowly eased, and people went back to their activities. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

She was probably meaner than she looked.

"Was that…" Leaf trailed off, unsure.

"Yeah, it was Ms. Taylor," Misty informed.

"I don't look forward to her class." May shuddered.

"Well, who knows, we might get the ever-nice, ever-pretty, Miss Conor," Leaf replied dreamily.

Miss Conor-the role model for every teenage girl. She was everything you would want to be-smart, pretty, athletic, funny-her Science class was always the best.

Everybody could only hope that they would get into her class and not Ms. Taylor's.

Leaf glanced down at her watch. "We're wasting time. We only have a couple minutes till homeroom."

We all hurried down the hallway, our backpacks thumping on our backs. We walked into the room with about a minute to spare.

There were exactly five empty seats left. One was in the dead center, front of the room. I wouldn't sit there ever. Why would you want to be right where the teacher could see you all the time?

Well, apparently, Leaf did, because she actually sat at that seat. I loved her, but seriously, sometimes, she has no idea what messes she gets herself into.

Then there was a seat at the far left corner, up in the back at the end of the classroom. Before I could do anything, Misty called it. Figures.

May found a decent looking seat somewhere in the middle. She didn't really care all too much.

I was the one left standing. The only two seats left were another one in the middle, but away from May's, and one in the middle row, next to the wall. I chose the one next to the wall.

The teacher's desk was empty. I sat down just when the bell rang. Nobody stopped talking. Plus, the teacher hadn't come yet.

But, I felt so alone. All of my friends were like, miles away. So close, yet so far…

Well, I had to pass the time. I located all my buddies. May was doodling on her desk, bored. Leaf was reading. Misty was listening to music-wait, what? I checked my uniform pockets. No, her IPod wasn't there. How'd she get it back? I didn't wanna know.

Speaking of which, I really hated the uniform. Whoever thought it up had absolutely no fashion sense. For us girls, they made us wear a full-sleeve blouse in an atrocious light green color, with a matching skirt, white knee-high socks, and black shoes. I was boiling in it, and I was sure that in the winter, I would freeze.

The boys got it a little better. They had to wear a blazer in the same disgusting green and black pressed pants with the same shoes.

Okay, I really needed to talk to the principal about this, I thought. The blouse was itchy, and the collar was stiff. Blech.

I snapped out of my trance as soon as the teacher walked in. The door slammed, and everybody silenced. My head whipped around to see who it was.

It was a plump man, who had this goofy grin on his face. He took one step forward, and tripped over his own feet, his coffee sloshing over his un-ironed shirt and papers flying everywhere.

My year as a freshman was off to a great start, right?

"I am SO sorry that I'm late, I just-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A girl with tall, orange, spiky hair rushed into the room, and fell right over the overturned teacher. Everybody started laughing, and I suppressed a giggle.

"Ugh…" The girl groaned as she got up, rubbing her back sorely. She helped the teacher up, who just laughed heartily and slapped her on the back in just, her flying into the empty desk.

"Isn't this fun, class?" the teacher asked. "Don't be so serious-school is hard enough without all the sour faces. I'm Mr. Nikaidou, and I will be your homeroom teacher for this year."

...I didn't really know what to make of Mr. Nikaidou.

He started taking attendance, all the while rambling about his already married kids, and for the first time, I felt myself actually listening to what the teacher had to say. I loved high school, so far at least.

"Nozomi, Zoey?" he asked, and the girl with orange hair from before rose her hand. "I'm so sorry about before, Zoey. I'm not the most coordinated," he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, and everybody laughed.

"Oh, it's okay, Mr. Nikaidou," Zoey replied, flashing a smile at him. "It happens all the time."

"I like your spirit, girl!" And then, he continued reading off names, and I zoned out.

English Language Arts, 2nd Period

Our Language Arts room was small and cozy, with lots of lamps turned on. The teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, a middle-aged woman with neon pink hair, started rambling about nouns, pronouns, verbs, and conjunctions as soon as we were seated. Oh, the boredom.

Leaf and May had Math right now, so I and Misty had only each other for support. I really wanted to get to know Zoey, but she was with Leaf and May in Math too.

"I want you to do page 1 and 2 in your workbook. I'll give you about five minutes to do it. Start now!" she ordered, and I started writing answer furiously into the book.

"Psst. Dawn. Dawn!" Misty whispered next to me.

"What is it?" I asked, glancing at the teacher. I didn't want to be branded as a troublemaker on the first day.

"I need a pencil," she answered, holding out a mechanical pencil with no lead in it.

Oh, Arceus, I thought. "This is the only pencil I have!" I replied frantically, unsure of what had to be done.

"Then give me a black colored pencil!" she retorted, mad. I started digging through my pencil case. Where was a colored pencil when you needed it?

"Hurry! Five minutes is almost over!" Misty said, freaking out. I found one black colored pencil and threw it to her. It missed and landed just beyond her foot's reach on the floor.

"No!" Misty started stretching her foot, trying to roll he pencil toward her. I started biting my manicured nails, a bad habit I had never gotten rid of.

Misty couldn't reach the pencil, so she started sliding lower and lower in her chair, to get closer to it. She was trying really hard not to make any noise, I could tell-she was biting her lip so hard, it turned white-ish.

When we only had half a minute left of work time, Misty's foot got really close to the pencil. She grinned, and stretched a tiny bit more. The chair squeaked, and both of us froze.

The teacher, who had been humming, stopped for a second, and my breath hitched in my throat. But, then she continued, softly singing.

I sighed, and Misty continued groping around with her foot at the black colored pencil. Then, the most mortifying thing happened.

Misty slipped. She outright fell out of the chair trying to reach the pencil, and made the biggest thump on the floor. I cringed, and immediately asked her if she was okay. She glared at me, so I decided to stay quiet.

"What just happened?" Mrs. Jenkins exclaimed, rushing to help Misty up. Everybody in the class was talking, and as soon as Misty sat back down, the teacher shut them all up.

"I'll give you one more minute." I looked down at the floor. Where was the pencil?

I glanced at Misty in the desk beside me. She was furiously scribbling down answers into the workbook with the black colored pencil.

Gym, 3rd Period

All four of us-me, Misty, May, and Leaf-had Gym right before lunch. Zoey had Gym with us too. I knew I was going to suck at it the moment I walked into the large gymnasium wearing a Pallet Town High gym uniform, which consisted of a simple shirt and shorts.

We started stretching, and me and my friends started talking like we hadn't seen each other in years.

"Hey, Berlitz and company! Shut it!" the buff Lt. Surge shouted at us. Just our luck that he was the gym teacher.

"Today, we will be playing dodge ball. I want a fair game, with good sportsmanship. Got that? No aiming at the head either. I don't need to get sued because of your personal grudges causing concussions!"

He blew a whistle, and it was complete chaos. Luckily, it was girls vs. boys this time, so us four were on the same team.

I saw Misty shredding up the competition on my right, and Leaf nimbly jumping over millions of balls on my left. And, as expected, May was already out, pouting and whining behind me.

"Dawn, wake up!" May yelled, and I narrowly dodged a ball. It whizzed right past my head, and my hair moved slightly.

I got into the game. I started chucking balls at people, and I found myself moving in a kind of weird rhythm-throw, dodge, pick up a ball, repeat ten million times.

And, soon enough, me and Misty were the only girls still playing on our side, and there were only two guys on the other side too. One guy who looked like he didn't give a crap with purple hair, and one boy with tall spiky hair resembling Zoey's, but brown, like May's.

"Take that, suckers!" Misty yelled, and a ball flew from her hands at the speed of light, hitting the brunette square on the side. He swore loudly, threw her an evil glare, and sat down, looking a lot like May again.

Misty smirked, and got hit by a ball sent from the other boy, the only one left on the other team. Her expression was so murderous, I couldn't even describe it. And, with that, it was me versus plum head jerk.

I could feel my entire gal team depending on me. They would never forgive me if I lost to the boys.

I gulped, and picked up a ball shakily. I extended my arm behind me, ready to throw it. I took a deep breath. Stress started building up inside me. I couldn't do this. It was too much.

But, then, determination surged through me, and I smiled. The ball left my hand, sailed through the large gymnasium-

And a ball hit me on the head.

"PHWEET! The boys win!"

Lunch and Recess, 4th Period

After recovering from my horrific loss at Gym, I was totally ready to kick back, relax, and converse with my three gal pals.

Or, rather, three gal pals plus one to-be-gal pal.

I had invited Zoey to sit with us at lunch. We talked, and she was really nice. Her fashion sense might have been a little off, but she knew everything about everything on hairstyles. She was a coordinator too-me and May really hit it off with her after that was brought up.

Leaf liked her, of course-she got along with pretty much everybody. I was afraid of what Misty would think, to tell the truth-but she liked Zoey too, because both of them, as she put it, "shared the pain of being a carrot-top".

I really liked Zoey. And, I had a feeling, that our quadruplet had just become a quintuplet.

History and Geography, 5th Period

This class was taught by Nurse Joy. Or, one of the Nurse Joys. She said that she was from Lilycove City.

Basically, it was just learning the geography of the Pokemon world's regions, and the history of them. Oh, joy (bad pun intended).

It was quite boring, really-and I felt myself growing drowsy, like I do in a normal class. And, soon enough, I had fallen asleep-Leaf told me later that I was practically snoring on my textbook.

But, I had a really weird dream...

I kept sprinting down the black void, my feet traveling on nothing. My screams echoed off of the dark matter, and I was becoming very agitated. It was a space of literally nothing-no beginning and no end, just empty space all around.

But the most scary part was-there was no one there. It was just me, braving this abnormality all by myself.

I had never been so completely alone before.

Strangled sobs escaped my throat, and I stopped running, breaking down. I sniffled, and the setting changed.

I was back in the gymnasium, and we were playing another dodge ball game, in a sense. Instead of regular balls though, there were balls of words-literally words-insults, that rang cold, heartless sayings and hurt anybody who got hit by them.

I saw a dream me, fighting hard. I kept dodging everything-and I suddenly realized that my team's size had shrunk. It had been all of the girls in class before, but now it was just me, Misty, May, Leaf, and Zoey.

Suddenly, Zoey shouted in pain as her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, unable to move. I wanted to help her, but I was stuck in place.

When I looked back at me and my still-standing dream friends, I realized that Leaf and May were gone. I glanced around, afraid, and when I found them, my heart stopped. They were on the other team now, where the majority were-jeering, snickering, smirking, and throwing swears and insults at me and Misty, the only people on our side.

May screeched something that I couldn't make out-and Misty froze. She stopped in place, staring at May with wide cerulean eyes. And for the first time in my life, I saw a side of Misty I had never seen before-a soft, vulnerable side. Tears streamed down her face, and she ran out of the gym, crying.

I wiped the tears from my own eyes, and in my blurry vision, I saw dream-me, still dodging all the mean words that were being thrown at me. I could see that I couldn't really keep it up anymore-I was panting heavily, my hair was frizzing up, and sweat droplets lined my forehead.

Then, I saw one insult, bigger than the rest. It rose above everybody else's, and rushed toward the dream me. The dream me didn't see it. I tried to say something, but my voice wouldn't work.

Out of nowhere, as soon as the insult was going to hit me, a guy stepped out and took the blow. He staggered back, and the dream me screamed. He disappeared, and I never got to see who he was. He was only a silhouette, but he had looked strangely familiar...

And, then, the dream me fell unconscious, fainting onto the gym floor.

"Dawn...Dawn...Dawn!" May bellowed in my ear, and I woke up with a start.

"Are you okay?" Leaf asked, worried. "We've been trying to wake you up for a while. Our next class starts in, like, ten seconds."

I got up, shaking slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

I never told them about the strange nightmare I had had.

Elective Course, 6th Period

For our sixth period, we had to take an elective course that we had chosen at the end of eighth grade. We had a different elective course set for each trimester, so three elective courses in one school year. I had chosen Home Ec. for the first trimester, as did May. Leaf had chosen Computers and Photography. Misty wanted to try something new, and chose Art.

In Home Ec., the teacher was a stout lady called Mrs. Richards, and she gave us an overview of what we would be doing that trimester-sewing, interior design, taking care of kids, and a slight amount of cooking.

I was excited. I loved crafty things like this. May was also bubbling over-she really wanted to learn how to cook edible food.

I was afraid of the whole kid care part though. Was it going to be toddlers, or babies? Either one was a scary prospect. I had had my fair share of babysitting my neighbor's second grader kids, and it was horrible.

At least there weren't any boys in this class, or I would have died from embarrassment when she started going over the "child development" part. It was going to be babies.

Shoot me now, I thought.

Science, 7th Period

I clutched my binder so tightly, my knuckles turned white. I checked my scedule for the hundredth time. Yep, I indeed, had Ms. Taylor for Science. Why? Why couldn't I have the lovely Miss Conor?

It was really just me and my bad luck. Misty, May, and Leaf got Miss Conor. Even Zoey got Miss Conor. But, no, I just had to get stuck in Ms. Taylor's class, with no one that I knew.

I felt like crying as I walked into the class all alone. I sat at a random desk, not really caring. Ms. Taylor was at the front of the room, shuffling through her notes. I started biting my nails again.

There was a clatter behind me. I whirled around to see the purple-haired dude who had gotten me out at dodge ball in Gym. If I hadn't been so scared of Ms. Taylor at that moment, I really would have done something mean to him.

The bell rang. Ms. Taylor turned around, and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at all of us, trying to locate the troublemakers and exceptional students.

"I am Ms. Taylor. I will be your science teacher for this year." Ms. Taylor wrote her name on the old-fashioned chalkboard, and the chalk screeched loudly like microphone feedback as she wrote. I felt like screaming.

"If any of you misbehave, I will not tolerate it," she continued, glaring at us. "I do not accept students who are not serious about their work."Oh, Mesprit, what had I gotten myself into?

She started pacing up and down, through the desks, taking a good look at all of us. She asked for our names, and what we hoped to learn this year.

When she got to the purple-haired boy behind me, I started freaking out. What the heck was I gonna say?

"Who are you, young man?"

"...Paul."

"Full name, please."

"...Paul Shinji."

"What do you want to learn this year, Paul Shinji?"

"..."

"I asked you something, Paul Shinji!"

"...life sciences, I guess."

Ms. Taylor nodded in approval, and moved onto me. I was totally un-ready.

"Don't bite your nails, girl, it's disgusting!" she exclaimed, unimpressed. I whipped my hands away from my mouth.

I said in a shaky voice, "My name is D-Dawn Berli-litz. I w-want to learn about..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say. Crap. I had not planned for this.

"What do you want to learn this year, Dawn Berlitz?" Ms. Taylor's voice rose. I could tell she was getting impatient with me, but I needed time to think.

"Chemistry! I want to learn lots of chemistry!" I yelled randomly. She stalked away, and I sighed in relief. I didn't care much for chemistry, to be honest, but I was so stressed at that moment that I just yelled out something random.

"Miss Dawn Berlitz has brought up a good point," Ms. Taylor addressed, and I gave her my utmost attention, though I really hated how she kept using my full name. "We will be focusing on chemistry, botany, and zoology for most of this year."

And, for the rest of class, she kept ranting about what we would learn. I got lost in all of the complicated terminology she used, and when the bell rang, I was the first one out the door.

Math, 8th Period

I hated math. I absolutely detested it. There was really no other way to describe the way I felt toward math-it was just pure hatred. I didn't give a crap to it, and it apparently didn't give a crap toward me either, because I got about half of the problems wrong in the pre-test our math teacher, Mr. Granger, gave us.

Leaf and May had had Math when me and Misty had Language Arts, so now, we had switched around. They had Language Arts, we had Math.

Misty was actually really good at Math, whether she wanted to admit it or not-she was actually a really good student all around, though she kept ranting to us about how she wants to flunk at least once. I was a straight A student too-except for Math. Stupid, stupid, math.

Go die in a hole, Math.

Talents, 9th Period

Talents-a class where we work with our Pokemon. Misty and Leaf had gone to the trainer section, and me and May walked into the coordinator section together.

I felt myself grinning, and May was too. So many people like us, coordinators, commanded their pokemon to do beautiful appeals. Contest battles raged all over the place, and pokemon cries rang through the air of the open classroom.

Another reason Talents became my favorite class of the day-it was held outside. Coordinators used the grassy field next to the lake, and trainers used the blacktop on the other side of the large lake. There was more than enough space to fit all of us and our pokemon, and it felt great to work out in the open.

When I was called up by the teacher, who was Johanna, (my mom, yeah...) I sent out my Togekiss, who emerged from a giant yellow bow, compliments of the seal. It then gently descended to the ground.

"Togekiss, you know the drill!" I yelled, and I was confident that we would do the appeal right.

"Tooooooo!" Togekiss flew into the air like a torpedo, shooting many beautiful Aura Spheres around it. They spiraled around Togekiss, ribbons of aura trailing behind all of them.

"Use Safeguard!" I shouted, and Togekiss glowed green, bringing out the dazzle in the Aura Spheres and its self. It looked exquisite, soaring everywhere like that.

"Finish up with Sky Attack!" Wrapping it up, Togekiss plummeted to the ground in a burst of white energy, the Aura Spheres exploding into sparkles. It landed next to me, chirping happily, and I patted it on the head and gave it a poffin, praising it. I glanced at my mom, and she smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

After me, it was May's turn. She sent out her Skitty, who bounced on its tail before landing on the ground. "Nyah! Nyah!"

"Use Assist!" I shook my head. May shouldn't always rely on luck like that, I thought.

"Nyah!" Millions of pink rose petals swirled around Skitty, and I knew that Assist had turned into her Venusaur's Petal Dance. It was pretty, really.

"Use Blizzard!" May commanded, and Skitty obeyed, a flurry of snow rushing into the air and freezing all of the petals in mid-air. Then, gravity took over, and all of the frozen petals dived to the ground like arrows, each one smashing into the ground and exploding into sparkles. May bowed, giggled, and scratched her Skitty behind the ear.

"Risky performance, May," my mother remarked, and May looked a little sad. "But, it was good, nonetheless." May beamed like a toddler, and I found myself smiling too.

Zoey then stood up, throwing her pokeball into the air. A Leafeon flipped through the air before making a perfect landing.

"Use Magical Leaf," Zoey ordered, and Leafeon let out a blast of glowing magical leaves. They surrounded Leafeon, and made it look even more regal and perfect. I found myself completely drawn to her performance, something I didn't feel when watching May or even my mom.

"Use Energy Ball." Leafeon shot out a gorgeous emerald sphere. "Follow up with Arial Ace." Leafeon shot up like it was a bird pokemon, and hit the Energy Ball squarely in the center. It exploded into bits of energy and green sparkles.

I could never perform that good, I realized. Zoey was in a completely different league. I started to feel that maybe, I wasn't as good of a coordinator as I thought I was.

After School, Walking Home

I asked Zoey if she would walk home with me, May, Misty, and Leaf, but she said that she had to go to the library today. However, she promised that she would come with us tomorrow, and I felt good knowing that I had made a new friend. A new friend who was an awesome coordinator.

All four of us rambled about something or the other of our first day of high school. The topic soon turned to Talents class.

"I was a little stupid for using Assist, I guess," May admitted. "But, it's my style."

"I battled against this kid with spiky hair and a Pikachu," Misty said. "His Pikachu was really tough actually. But, me and Starmie pulled through!" She pumped her fists in the air, feeling good about herself for winning.

"Dawn, you know that guy who got you out in dodge ball today in gym?" Leaf asked, and I felt my heart skip a beat for some reason. I remembered Science, and the bizarre dream I had in History/Geography. "His name is Paul, and-"

"I know that," I snapped, mad at her for making me think of the nightmare I had had. She looked at me weirdly, and I felt bad.

"Okay, then...I battled him in Talents. He's really strong, but he's ruthless with his pokemon. He's the strong, silent type, and I had the feeling that if his pokemon didn't win the battle for him, they would be in for a load of trouble. You catch my drift?" she continued,"I lost for the first time in a long time. Guess I need to do some serious training."

I looked up, where wild Pidgey flew from tree to tree, and puffy white clouds floated around the clear blue sky. I found myself lingering on Paul for some reason. What was with him?